Call for Proposals: 2026 Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference at UCLA

Posted in Articles, Live Events, United States, Wanted/Research Requests/Call for Papers on 2025-06-12 14:50Z by Steven

Call for Proposals: 2026 Critical Mixed Race Studies Conference at UCLA

The 2026 CMRSA Conference Programming Committee
Critical Mixed Race Studies Association
2025-06-12

Critical Mixed Race Studies (CMRS) is a biennial conference, field of study, and scholarly and activist community. The CMRS conference draws over 500 multiracial scholars, artists, students, activists, clinicians, community organizations and advocates from all over the world. The CMRS conference was the first, and remains one of the only, counterspaces for those interested in critically exploring constructions of race through a multiracial lens.

Greetings!

We are thrilled to announce the Call for Proposals for the 8th Biennial Critical Mixed Race Studies Association Conference, taking place February 19–21, 2026, at UCLA in Los Angeles, California. This year’s theme is:

Critical Healing: Honoring Resilience and Disrupting Power through Diverse Critical Mixed Race Perspectives

As we gather in the face of shifting laws, policies, and social climates, the 2026 CMRS Conference offers a powerful space to build community, share knowledge, and engage in critical healing practices. Drawing inspiration from Resmaa Menakem’s work on racialized trauma and healing, we aim to cultivate spaces for disruption, solidarity, and sustained justice.

We’re especially proud to launch this call for proposals on Loving Day, which commemorates the 1967 Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia. This symbolic date reminds us of the ongoing struggles and triumphs of mixed race communities—and grounds our conference in a legacy of resistance, love, and transformation.

We invite proposals from academics, artists, clinicians, practitioners, students, advocacy groups, and community members. Sessions may take the form of papers, panels, performances, workshops, visual art, film, and other creative or community-centered formats.

Proposals should connect to one or more of the following areas:

  • Healing rooted in Multiracial experience
  • Disruption of systemic oppression
  • Intersectional and intergenerational strategies
  • National and global Multiracial solidarity
  • Critical practices for social and political change

Timeline:

  • Proposal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, 2025-10-01 @ 23:59 PST
  • Review Deadline: Tuesday, 2025-10-14
  • Notifications Sent: Saturday, 2025-11-01
  • Presenter Registration Deadline: Monday, 2025-12-01

To submit a proposal, click here.

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Participants Needed for a Paid Research Study: Up to $100

Posted in Family/Parenting, Media Archive, United States, Wanted/Research Requests/Call for Papers on 2025-03-18 15:25Z by Steven

Participants Needed for a Paid Research Study: Up to $100

Dominique Callahan
University of California, Los Angeles

2025-03-10

Hello! My name is Dominique, and I am a graduate student at UCLA. I am currently recruiting participants for my dissertation, which explores how Black parents talk to their biracial Black-White children about race and racial identity in the United States. I am a biracial Black-White young adult myself, and I am hoping to learn more about this topic by speaking with Black parents and their biracial children. I would appreciate if you would consider participating and/or forward this information to other potential participants.

Eligibility requirements:

  • You identify as a Black/African American parent.
  • You have at least 1 biological biracial Black/White child who is between the ages 11-18.
  • You are available to participate in one 60-to-90-minute virtual interview about how you talk to your child about race and racial identity. Parents will be compensated $50 via a paper check sent to their home address.
  • You agree to allow your child to participate in one 30-to-45-minute virtual interview about similar topics. The compensation for this interview will be $25 in the form of an electronic Amazon gift card.
  • Optional: You are available to participate in one 15-minute virtual observation and discussion task that includes both you and your biracial child. The compensation for this activity will be $25 in the form of an electronic Amazon gift card.

For all studies, participation is completely voluntary, and all of your responses will be kept confidential. If you are interested in participating, please first fill out this brief (5 minute) eligibility survey: We will proceed with scheduling the virtual data collection sessions after you complete the survey.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at dcdissertationproject@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your interest!

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Frederick Douglass, A Life in American History

Posted in Biography, Books, Forthcoming Media, History, Literary/Artistic Criticism, Monographs, Slavery, United States on 2024-08-06 02:08Z by Steven

Frederick Douglass, A Life in American History

Bloomsbury
2025-02-06
320 pages
235 x 156 mm
Hardback ISBN: 9798216170464
Ebook (PDF) ISBN: 9798216170471
Ebook (ePub & Mobi) ISBN: 9798216170488

Mark Christian, Professor, Urban Education, Africana Studies
Lehman College, City University of New York

Meet one of the most influential men in the United States’ history of emancipation and Black rights.

Chronicling Frederick Douglass’s life in an accessible way, this biography engages with history and wrestles with biases, falsehoods, and unknown facts in order to tell Douglass’s story as accurately as possible. Taking a comprehensive look at Douglass’s life from birth to death, the book delves into Douglass’s time as an enslaved African American, his escape, his experiences as a prominent orator and champion of Black rights, his writings and publications, and the influence he had on shaping society of the time. A detailed timeline allows students to quickly reference and recall major points in Douglass’s history, and the book is further augmented by the inclusion of primary documents, which include samples of Douglass’s own copious works, as well as words written about Douglass by his contemporaries. Readers will walk away with not only a better understanding of American history but an appreciation for Frederick Douglass’s impact in his own time and his lasting relevance for all those who continue to fight for a more equal society today.

Table of Contents

  • Series Foreword
  • Preface
  • Acknowledgements
  • 1. Historical Context
  • 2. Born in Bondage with Dreams of Liberty
  • 3. Finding Freedom and the Abolitionist Cause
  • 4. No More Master and Mastering Self-Determination Abroad
  • 5. A Man of Independence in Public and Private Life
  • 6. The Erudite Douglass in Letters, Speech, and Prose
  • 7. Why Frederick Douglass Matters
  • Timeline
  • Primary Documents
  • Bibliography
  • Index
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In Kamala Harris’s Blackness, I See My Own

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, Social Science, United States on 2024-08-06 02:06Z by Steven

In Kamala Harris’s Blackness, I See My Own

The New York Times
2024-08-04

Danzy Senna

By Pedro Nekoi

We seem to be beginning yet another season of a perennially popular American spectacle, “How Much Is That Mulatto in the Window?” I frequently think that, after 400 years, this show is about to go off the air — jump the shark, as it were. But then it returns, with ever more absurd plot lines. Yet even as a so-called mulatto myself, I can’t stop watching.

The Hollywood pitch goes something like this: Put racially ambiguous Black people in the public eye — Kamala, Meghan, Barack. Have them declare themselves Black. Count down the minutes before the world erupts into outrage, distress and suspicion. People scream their confusion and doubt, accusing the figures of lying about who they really are. It makes for good TV.

On last week’s episode, Donald Trump got his cameo, accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of switching races. “She was Indian all the way, and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person,” he said during an appearance in front of the National Association of Black Journalists. His staged bewilderment, implying that she was practicing some sort of sinister racial sorcery, felt wild for 2024, when mixed-race people are everywhere, visually overrepresented in Target commercials and Kardashian family reunions. Yet even in the midst of our fetishization, a stubborn strain of mulattophobia remains widespread. And no matter what answer we give to the ubiquitous question — What are you? — someone, somewhere, will accuse us of lying, of being a grifter trying to impersonate another race, a more real race.

Multiracial, mulatto, mixed-nuts, halfies — whatever you want to call us today, we remain the fastest-growing demographic in our country. When we enter the spotlight, we are often treated as specimens, there to be dissected, poked, debated, disputed and disinherited. We are and always have been a Rorschach test for how the world is processing its anxiety, rage, confusion and desire about this amorphous construction we call race…

Read the entire essay here.

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On Turning Black

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United States on 2024-08-04 20:44Z by Steven

On Turning Black

The New York Times
2024-08-01

Esau McCaulley, Contributing Opinion Writer

Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Erin Schaff/The New York Times

During his interview before the National Association of Black Journalists this week, Donald Trump was asked if he would call upon his fellow Republicans to refrain from labeling Vice President Kamala Harris a “D.E.I. candidate” for the presidency. Rather than condemn his party’s increasingly troubling language on the topic, Mr. Trump took the opportunity to question Ms. Harris’s racial identity.

“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” he said. “I didn’t know she was Black, until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black? I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t.”

This is all clearly untrue. Ms. Harris graduated from Howard University, a historically Black university, and she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a historically Black sorority. Her biographies and self-descriptions throughout her career have cited both her Black and Indian identities.

My wife is white, so we have multiracial children. Depending on the context, they can refer to themselves as Black or multiracial. When my children describe themselves using the latter term, they are acknowledging that their mother is a part of their story as well. Does Mr. Trump really expect interracial people to deny half of their families?…

Read the entire essay here.

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The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander

Posted in Biography, Books, History, Law, Monographs, Novels, United States, Women on 2024-08-04 16:25Z by Steven

The Trial of Mrs. Rhinelander

Kensington Books
2024-07-23
336 Pages
5.54 x 8.24 x 0.87 in
Paperback ISBN: 9781496737878
eBook ISBN: 9781496737885

Denny S. Bryce

Inspired by a real-life scandal that was shocking even for the tumultuous Roaring Twenties, this captivating novel tells the story of a pioneering Black journalist, a secret interracial marriage among the New York elite, and the sensational divorce case that ignited an explosive battle over race and class—and brought together three very different women fighting for justice, legitimacy, and the futures they risked everything to shape.

For readers of Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, a transporting work of fact-based historical fiction from Denny S. Bryce, bestselling author of Wild Women and the Blues, In the Face of the Sun, and Can’t We Be Friends: A Novel of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe.

New York, 1924. Born to English immigrants who’ve built a comfortable life, idealistic Alice Jones longs for the kind of true love her mother and father have. She believes she’s found it with Leonard “Kip” Rhinelander, the shy heir to his prominent white family’s real estate fortune. Alice too, is “white”, though she is vaguely aware of rumors that question her ancestry—gossip her parents dismiss. But when the lovers secretly wed, Kip’s parents threaten his inheritance unless he annuls the marriage.

Devastated but determined, Alice faces overwhelming odds both legally and in the merciless court of public opinion. But there is one person who can either help her—or shatter her hopes for good: Reporter Marvel Cunningham. The proud daughter of an accomplished Black family, Marvel lives to chronicle social change and the Harlem Renaissance’s fiery creativity.

At first, Marvel sees Alice’s case as a tabloid sensation generated by a self-hating woman who failed to “pass.” But the deeper she investigates, the more she will recognize just how much she and Alice have in common. For Rhinelander vs. Rhinelander will bring to light stunning truths that will force both women to confront who they are, and who they can be, in a world that is all too quick to judge.

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Should Harris Talk Much About Her Racial Identity? Many Voters Say No.

Posted in Articles, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United States on 2024-08-04 15:41Z by Steven

Should Harris Talk Much About Her Racial Identity? Many Voters Say No.

The New York Times
2024-08-03

Jeremy W. Peters

Kamala Harris has long resisted attempts by others to categorize her identity. “I am who I am,” she once said. “I’m good with it. You might need to figure it out, but I’m fine with it.” Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Even as Trump plays up racial divisions, many Americans said they would rather not dwell on race or identity. “We can all see that you’re Black.”

“Obviously, we have eyes.”

That was the somewhat jaded response by Larhonda Marshall, a 42-year-old health care worker from Chicago, about all the attention being paid to Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity.

As a Black woman herself, Ms. Marshall said that the symbolism of a Harris victory would surely be on her mind as she considers her vote for president. But it was not the most important factor at all, she said. And she wishes the Harris supporters who keep mentioning it would drop it.

“I’m tired of hearing it,” Ms. Marshall said. “That’s not an issue. I just want what’s best for the country.”

This week, after former President Donald J. Trump claimed falsely that Ms. Harris “happened to turn Black” only recently, the vice president did not attempt to clarify the obvious: that she has, in fact, been Black all her life…

Read the entire article here.

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Why Kamala Harris’ biracial identity upsets Donald Trump so much

Posted in Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, Social Justice, United States on 2024-08-03 20:11Z by Steven

Why Kamala Harris’ biracial identity upsets Donald Trump so much

MSNBC
2024-08-01

Sarah E. Gaither, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

Samuel R. Sommers, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology
Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts

Acknowledging the existence of multiracial identities completely scrambles Trump’s stereotypes.

Early in Donald Trump’s meltdown at this week’s National Association of Black Journalists convention, the former president offered unsolicited commentary on the racial identity of Vice President Kamala Harris, who has an Indian mother and a Jamaican father. “She was Indian all the way,” Trump said of his presumptive opponent, “and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she became a Black person. Somebody should look into that.”

There is a multitude of problems with Trump’s comments, from his presumption that he has the expertise and jurisdiction to judge someone else’s identity to his argument that Harris lacks the racial bona fides to merit the Black audience members’ allegiance. But the former president’s ramble offers another important conclusion: Trump simply doesn’t understand race. When Trump asks for somebody to “look into that,” the truth is that for years researchers have looked into that. What they’ve found is that overly simplified perspectives on race like Trump’s are not only misplaced, but they are counterproductive and dangerous.

Scholars of race have long argued, and demonstrated, that race is a socially constructed category that still has very real outcomes. We, as members of society, constantly construct, deconstruct and reconstruct what race means.

Even the basics of how race is measured in America have evolved over time. The 1850 U.S. census was the first to acknowledge people of multiracial descent, with the category “Mulatto” used as a way to exclude them from having full political rights. Not until the 2000 census were multiracial Americans able to formally mark more than one racial identity. In fact, the multiracial population is the fastest growing racial group in the United States, with a 276% increase between 2010 and 2020…

Read the entire article here.

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The Lesser-Known Side of Harris’s Identity: Asian American

Posted in Articles, Asian Diaspora, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United States, Women on 2024-08-01 01:41Z by Steven

The Lesser-Known Side of Harris’s Identity: Asian American

The New York Times
2024-07-28

Amy Qin

Kamala Harris spoke during the virtual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Unity Summit in 2021. Erin Scott for The New York Times

Some Asian American leaders are rooting for Kamala Harris to become the first Asian American president. But she is not widely known as Asian American, reflecting the complexity of the identity.

Daniel Chiang can remember one Asian American who ran for president in 2020: Andrew Yang, a Taiwanese American entrepreneur. But he was surprised to learn last week that there was another person running for president then, and in 2024, who counted herself an Asian American: Kamala Harris.

“I never got that impression,” said Mr. Chiang, 38, a Taiwanese American from Connecticut.

Ms. Harris, the vice president and likely Democratic nominee for president, is known widely as the first Black woman to be elected vice president.

But Ms. Harris, whose mother emigrated from India and whose father emigrated from Jamaica, is less known as an Indian American and Asian American. Asked to name a famous Asian American, only 2 percent of Americans said Kamala Harris, according to a recent survey by The Asian American Foundation…

Read the entire article here.

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Multiracial Generations: (Mis)Identification & Socialization Experiences of Interminority Multiracials and Half-White Multiracials

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Social Science, United States on 2024-06-13 19:54Z by Steven

Multiracial Generations: (Mis)Identification & Socialization Experiences of Interminority Multiracials and Half-White Multiracials

EON Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Volume 02: Issue 05, May 2024

Joie Lynn Haydel
Sceptre Ganasi
Samantha Yim
Torin Perreyclear
Lizzie Hernandez
Haochen Zheng
Kaitlyn Jubera
Taylor Pauley
Xinzhuo Gao
Yiyue Lin
Rosi Vera
Zhihui Sheng
Alisa Panichkina
Mel Markley
Jarryd Willis

Multiracials were the fastest growing ethnoracial group in America according to the 2020 United States Census, and our investigation sought to contribute to the growing body of literature on the (mis)identification and ethnoracial socialization experiences of various half-White Multiracial groups (Wasian, Whitino, Whindian, half Middle Eastern-half White, and half Black-half-White Multiracials) and interminority Multiracial groups (Blasian, Latinasian, and Blatino Multiracials). We took an interdisciplinary approach in our literature review of Multiracial experiences, incorporating historical contexts that influenced Multiracials experiences, cross-cultural research (e.g., how phenotypically ambiguous Multiracials have become commodified in the advent of globalization and international marketing), critical race studies, and social psychology. We asked Multiracial groups about their experiences of identity (mis)categorization, parents’ approach to ethnoracial socialization, and how their personal, phenotypically influenced, and socially perceived identities influence experiences with coracial and non-coracial peers. We found that phenotypically ambiguous Multiracials were the most likely to experience misidentification. Interminority Multiracials were more likely to be misperceived as a higher-status ethnoracial group and half-White Multiracials were more likely to be misperceived as a lower-status ethnoracial group. Moreover, phenotypically ambiguous Multiracials reported a marginally higher proportion of non-coracial friends. Furthermore, interminority Multiracials were more likely to be socialized in both parents’ cultures than half-White Multiracials. We discuss our findings in the context of cultural pluralism and identity development, and hope our research contributes to the literature on the experiences of various Multiracial groups.

Read the entire article here.

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